The Star-Spangled Banner

In the sweltering heat of September 1814, a British fleet swept up the Patuxent River, intent on laying waste to the vulnerable towns along the Chesapeake—Baltimore, Washington, and Annapolis. Amid the chaos, a young aide‑de‑camp named Francis Scott Key, a practicing lawyer with a taste for military life, watches the American defeat at Bladensburg and witnesses the flames licking the capital’s ruins. As the British march inland, a celebrated local physician, Dr. Beanes, entertains officers at his home, unaware that his hospitality will soon draw him into a perilous diplomatic tug‑of‑war.

When three exhausted British soldiers stumble upon a convivial gathering at a nearby spring, their boisterous claims spark a sudden arrest, and Dr. Beanes is seized in the dead of night. Determined to free his friend, Key braves a flag of truce and sails to the British flagship, only to learn that the enemy fleet is already turning toward Baltimore. His desperate plea and the looming threat of further assault set the stage for a moment that will echo through history.